To use a "Post" or a static "Page"?

I am thinking through when to upgrade to a wordpress.org site. And now that I understand a little about blogs, I really like the idea of the front page remaining the blog page where post are kept. Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that I am mapping out the content of site. What are the rules of thumb on when it is best have a static page, and when it is best to make new posts with specific categories?

For example, monthly podcast will be a major feature of our site. Should episodes be archived via a post category or a static page? Or both?

There are no rules of thumb. IMHO if you intend to move to self-hosting there is no advantage to remaining at wordpress.COM, aside from learning how to use the software better as you have lost of peer support here on the forum that's lacking at wordpress.ORG.

Some bloggers start out on free hosted blog platforms like wordpress.com or blogspot (Blogger) on a test basis. They plan to establish traffic, purchase a domain and then to switch over to paid hosting.

(2) " really like the idea of the front page remaining the blog page where post are kept. Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that I am mapping out the content of site. What are the rules of thumb on when it is best have a static page, and when it is best to make new posts with specific categories?"

The front page remaining the blog posts where posts appear immediately after publication in reverse chronological order with the most recent on top is characteristic of blogs. You could say it's what a blog is all about as blogs are set up for the convenience of readers who come to read the most recent posts.

They only purpose having a static front page serves is to appease the aesthetic preference of the blogger, as opposed to the convenience of the readers. Establishing a static landing page as the front page means each time readers come to read posts they must endure the annoyance and inconvenience of clicking through it every time they wish to read posts. There is no benefit at all to the readers, thus choosing to do the same gives rise to the question: Who are you blogging for?

(3) " ... when it is best to make new posts with specific categories?"
Blogs are all about posts. Every post ought to be assigned to broad categories and should have specific tags. These categories and tags are "keywords" for retrieval purposes just as they would be if posts were books in libraries and categories and tags were subjects in a library catalog.

Potential readers use search engines and when posts are properly constructed and categories and tags are assigned to them, they are indexed by search engines and appear in the SERPS (search engine results pages). That means they can be readily located by targeted readers who click through to the posts in question. Posts have Google juice and achieve PageRank.http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/basic-seo-elements-for-bloggers/

(4) "For example, monthly podcast will be a major feature of our site. Should episodes be archived via a post category or a static page? Or both?"

Posts assigned to your Monthly Podcasts category can be located in the Archives which can be displayed in a widget or static page - the choice is yours. "Monthly Podcast" is a category and the tags assigned to any podcast ought to narrow the subject matter down to a direct hit.

Example: Suppose I have a marine mammals of the world blog and I publish my monthly podcasts in posts. The broad categories would be "marine mammals," Monthly Podcasts" and the names of the oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, Indian, Southern).

The tags would differentiate individual posts according to their specific subject matter. One might be tagged "dolphins" another may be tagged "sea lions", etc. The tags may also reflect the specific geographical area and/or other unique specific subject matter in the podcast posts.

I came back because I recalled on advantage to staying behind the garden wall (remaining at wordpress.COM when your goal is to self host a blog). Provided that you know how to apply basic SEO to your blog posts, which includes learning how to use keywords appropriately to categorize and tag, remaining at wordpress.COM can provide an opportunity to create a readership via the wordpress.COM global tagging pages. When you leave wordpress.COM and self host on your own domain the majority of that readership will hopefully follow your blog, which will no longer have its posts appearing on the global tagging pages at wordpress.COM. Some who have made the move say it took about 6 months to regain their readership. In the case of my personal blog it never regained the volume of readers it had as a wordpress.COM blog.

So we have come full circle. In blogging content is king and marketing is queen. If you write high quality original content and promote it then the result may be an increase in organic traffic, or not. If it’s not easy to locate your content in search engines then there will be no increase in new traffic. Thus, what determines success is two things:

* whether or not your content is found, and
* whether or not the readers who do find it become subscribers.

Who do you blog for? Do you have the required skills to structure a reader and search engine friendly blog? Is your blog set up to be accessible to readers and to encourage an every growing readership?

Wow. I did not think of the new traffic advantage timethief. Forgive me if I am slow, but let me make sure I understand. For example, my site receives a great number of visits (by my standards) from people who search for "Robby Rose Cheating". Assuming the article is tagged the same way, are you saying that if my blog was hosted at godaddy (or some other host de jur), that my blog might not appear as high in the search results?

I really really really appreciate you taking taking the time to coach me. You thorough response exceeded my expectations and is extremely helpful.

I am saying that wordpress.COM the global tagging pages generate a certain amount of traffic to our blogs. How much it delivers to any given blog varies from blog to blog.

When one moves to self hosting a wordpress.ORG blog they and their blog are no longer part of the wordpress.COM community. That means their posts no longer appear under the categories and tags found on the wordpress.COM global tagging pages.

If a "newish" blogger is not adept when it comes to appropriately and effectively using keywords, categories and tags then they will not be receiving much traffic via the wordpress.COM global tagging pages, or from the search engines either. Consequently, if they leave wordpress.COM and self host a wordpress.ORG install on their own domain, it will make little difference to their traffic.

@arcadat
Really? I'm out here chastising myself for not turning these lengthy replies into blog posts, so I can revel in the ego inflating HIGH that stats watching on a non-monetized blog can bring me ... :D ... :D ... :D